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Freddie's Roadhouse wraps up busy weekend

Posted: April 9, 2013 - 9:54pm | Updated: April 9, 2013 - 9:59pm

Freddie’s Roadhouse, located at Mile 16 Oilwell Road in the Caribou Hills, put on a busy weekend of snowmachine drag racing and mushing.

The snowmachine drag races wrapped up a season of racing. Sheila Best of the roadhouse wrote in an email that she wanted to thank everyone who made the events happen this year, and that the roadhouse can’t wait for the next season of snowmachine drag racing to start. Jeff Hanson had a big final day, winning the 440 stock, 600 stock, 800 mod, 1000 mod and unlimited.

The roadhouse also put on the first Freddie’s Midnight Run, a 100-mile sled dog race. That race started Saturday and finished Sunday, with Monica Zappa winning at 11 hours, 6 minutes, and Anna Berington coming in just a minute behind.

According to Best, Zappa did not realize she had won until she was told at the finish line. That’s because the leader out to the halfway point made a wrong turn, and Zappa did not see the track running the wrong way off the trail, so she assumed she was still in second.

The start of the race was unique. The dogs were in harness on truck lines, and mushers were in sleeping bags. Mushers had to get out of their bags, pack the sleeping bags and harness the dogs. A handler could assist with the dogs once the bags were stowed. Best said the weather was great to start, but a big windstorm kicked up in the evening that was a rude challenge for dogs and mushers alike, especially in early April.

Emily Thiem received the Humanitarian Award, Gus Guenther received the Sportsmanship Award, Travis Beals received the halfway checkpoint win, and the sprint start was won by Jason Young, who also ended up taking the red lantern.